


Shut Up and Put Me Out of My Misery

by hows_it_chilling



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Love, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Multi, POV Alternating, Slow Burn, The Marauder's Map, Twins, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:21:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29395422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hows_it_chilling/pseuds/hows_it_chilling
Summary: Remus and Rhea Lupin are twins, they are slowly exposed to different friendships, hardships and relationships. Stress is not always easy to handle and secrets are all consuming, the question is who will break first.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Mary Macdonald/Marlene McKinnon, Regulus Black/Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin





	Shut Up and Put Me Out of My Misery

Rhea Juno Lupin  
Year 1  
Age 11  
Wednesday, September 1, 1971,

Remus was sighing, in my ear, loudly. He kinda sounds like a dying baby hyena, but I couldn’t sleep without this specific hyena. My breath was pooling in white clouds in front of me, the cold of the dark downstairs room was bone chilling. It was cold but it was only until 10. Only until 10 I told myself as I wrapped myself more around Remus.  
When the doors opened, both Remus and I were awake, still shivering from the cold but better. Mom was there with blankets and warm cups of tea, both our faces lit up, and we raced up the stairs. Mom squeezed us together in a tight hug that warmed all through my body. She loved us so much, but she was absolutely terrified of becoming a werewolf like us. She would lock us up tight in the basement from 3 pm to 10 am every month and then go to her room, lock all four locks on her door and put on earmuffs, the basement was soundproofed, but she didn’t want to hear ANYTHING.  
Remus would get angry at mom when I would shiver in the night, or when I would have to go to sleep in my own blood because there was no running water downstairs. But I knew that mom, no matter how irrational, loved us and had the best intentions.  
“Hey mom, we are just going to shower and sleep if that’s okay?’” I said in a soft voice.  
“Yes babies, go, there will be food when your ready”  
We smiled and walked to the second floor. Neither of them were too roughed up. A few odd cuts and bruises but nothing serious. I showered in 10 minutes flat, which was impressive considering I washed my hair, shaved and brushed my teeth. Remus took 30 minutes, and he somehow still stank when he came out.  
Both of us went to our respective rooms and I sat there in my pajamas just looking at the wall. I was completely exhausted but I could not sleep. I knew what would help me sleep, I knew that since we were 11 it was weird to sleep together but I wanted to, he’s my twin so it’s fine.  
I walked slowly trying not to wake him as he slept, his door was open and I saw him tucked tight beneath the covers. I went right next to the bed and stared at his face, realizing that it might be a mistake. But he lifted his arm and patted the space next to him without opening his eyes, okay then.  
I woke at 7:30 pm, slightly confused and still very tired. Remus was gone and his room was pitch black, the blackout curtains drawn closed. I slowly stretched out and walked to my room and then to shower, again. I always felt kinda dirty after a full moon. When I was in the third pair of clothes for the day, I headed downstairs.  
Remus was sitting on the couch, reading a classic or something old and dramatic, he really loved everything old and dramatic. I certainly was dramatic, but I was three minutes younger than him, only three but still younger. He really liked to hold that over my head, literally and figuratively, he was two inches taller than me.  
The metal slot in the door clicked open and in flew two perfectly white envelopes. Remus looked at the floor and then at me.  
“Rhea,” he paused then looked back at the door, “is that-”  
I flew across the floor and fell to my knees on the door rug. Both the envelopes had names, names of twins, names of the twins in this household.  
“Remus and Rhea!” I shouted, “US! Hogwarts, we are going to Hogwarts!”  
“Give it,” he ripped the envelope with Remus on it out of my hands. He very carefully opened the seal and read it.  
I had done the same confirming my inference, it was our letters to Hogwarts. Our very amazing letters.  
Mom walked in the living room and looked at us then the letters and shook her head  
“No” she said, completely ripping the excitement out of the room.  
Deafening silence pounded in the house as Remus slowly lifted his head, “What’s do you mean no?” he asked with slight anger in his voice.  
“I mean, my werewolf children are not going to spend most of the year away from me and in a school full of children.” she said matching Remus’ tone.  
“We can be locked up somewhere there too!” Remus replied with venom spiking his tone.  
“That’s not what happens here!”  
“Isn’t it? Is that not what happens each month? Or was I imagining the pain, and the cold, and the crying?” Remus forced through his teeth, his eyes watering slightly.  
Mom wasn’t going to make him cry, because even if mom's worries were fair, I couldn’t let her make him cry. So I grabbed his hand and dragged him all the way to his room and slammed the door. I pushed him to the bed and wrapped my arms around his body. He kept stiff and then let his body fall, and he let me keep him intact.  
“We don’t get to do anything, we don’t get to live our life and the one thing that we would get to do, she says no.” He said as tears and snot gathered on my sweater.  
“We can get her to let us go. I’ll talk to her, we can do it. We will go to Hogwarts.” I said, but I really wanted to walk downstairs and punch Mom in the face. The last person to make Remus cry was dad, or more like the death of dad.  
I understood what he was feeling, the ache in my heart at the possibility of not going to Hogwarts was the same as Remus. Tears pricked my eyes at the thought of missing more.  
Remus layed down and stared at the roof, I held his hand and looked at the wall. Remus eventually fell asleep. I slipped away and walked downstairs to my mom. She was sitting at the kitchen gripping her tea with two hands. She looked like she was shaking while being completely still. I sat down next to her.  
“We can find out a way to go, we can figure it out.” I said.  
“There’s too much of a risk, so much of a risk.”  
“There are risks with everything!” she said slightly raising her voice and then taking a deep breath, “There are risks with being at home, there would be no fewer risks with a similar set up at Hogwarts.”  
“There would be.”  
“You went to Hogwarts, you loved Hogwarts.”  
“I was norm- wasn't a werewolf.”  
“You were normal!? Well then, let me go and lock myself in the basement. Then you can start again, maybe get normal children!”  
“That's not what I meant, I love you guys.”  
“Then let us go”  
“Okay”  
I was about to tell her why, I was about to find every reason why we could go.  
“Okay?” I asked.  
“Yes”  
Oh. Oh, yes.  
“I’m going to tell Remus!” I yelled as I ran to his bedroom.  
He was still sleeping and I practically jumped on him, and shook him awake. He pushed me down and then off the bed. I fell with a very loud thump onto the floor, that would surely worry mom, but I didn’t care. He looked down at me and croaked out a very indecent sentence.  
“Bad Remus, no swearing. I have good news.” I said with a mocking tone.  
“What news?”  
“Oh you know just that we get to go to Hogwarts because I am amazing and convinced mom while staying entirely calm the entire time.” I practically yelled.  
“What, WHAT” he stared at me with his mouth open.  
“Yes, now is the time to thank me.” I bowed as I finished.  
“Thank you, Merlin thank you.”  
He looked at me and smiled, I smiled back. This was going to work. We were going to live our lives, learn things, make friends.

———

This was not working, really, really not working. We had everything we needed, every book, wand and any other item required, heck we even walked into a wall. Now I just had to sit, sit on the train. I didn’t want to leave Remus but I think he wanted to find other friends, maybe, I couldn’t tell with him at the moment, he was different in public.  
Right as I was about to ask, Remus grabbed my arm and pulled me into a seat, no one was there, it was us and an empty cart. It was like that for minutes. I was wringing my hands and staring at the direction of home, mom didn’t come because she couldn’t handle it.  
There were so many possible things that could go wrong, if Remus got a different house would they grow distant? I’ve never had to make friends before, because I was born with one, one who I had become very attached to. Even more so when we became werewolves at the ripe age of 6.  
A sharp pain got me back to the present, Remus pinched me and was now frowning at me.  
A protest rose in my throat just as two boys walked in and sat down. One had hilarious round glasses and the other was, like a frog, short and round. Cute, in the way a child looks at a rat before they were convinced rats were gross. I stared at the two, who were in the middle of a conversation about chocolate.  
I scrunch my face at the mention, I hated chocolate, not because of the werewolf thing, but more like It made me want to throw up. The one time I ate it, I loved it so much I ate it for seven hours, no stop, and threw up for days. Remus loved chocolate, he would like this group.  
The two boys now looked up at us and smiled at the same time, looking more like twins than us.  
“You guys already know each other? Coming to Hogwarts with a little romance?” the one with glasses asked, wiggling his eyebrows.  
Remus choked beside me then hid his laugh behind his hand.  
“Uh no, definitely not romance, we have known each other for a long time.” I said, barely suppressing a grin.  
“Us too, we grew up next to each other, known each other since we were babies, best friends.” said the rat.  
The rat wasn’t a nice name, but he really looked like one. Glasses weren't the best either but I would learn them sometime.  
“My names James,” glasses said kindly then pointed to the rat, “this is Peter.”  
Now was the time apparently.  
“James Potter” Peter said, bragging for James.  
I knew absolutely nothing about different families or family names but Potter was probably a pure blood one. Remus might know, he did plenty of research the moment I told him we could go.  
“Nice to meet you James and Peter, I’m Remus and this is Rhea.” Remus said his first words to the group.  
Then a man slammed open the door suddenly, then smacked down into the seat, he raised his foot and slammed the door closed (lots of slamming with this boy) breathing hard. He had long dark hair and sweat stains on his uniform. Two very angry girls walked to the door and banged on it. They were yelling something that was muffled by the door.  
“Hello there, stranger, need any help?” James chided at the new boy.  
As if just realizing the group he tilted his head around, observing us. He grinned slightly and shook his head, hair following the motion. The girls gave up and walked away.  
“Not unless you kick me out. Sirius Black, nice to meet you.” Giving us a golden boy smile. Peter and James smile back, Peter looking just happy to be acknowledged.  
“Let me?” Peter asked James. James nodded  
Remus looked at me confused, I gave him an equal expression before giving Peter my full attention. He cleared his voice.  
“James,” he pointed to James, ”Peter,” he motioned his head to himself, “Ramus and Raya” he pointed to us.  
“Actually Remus and Rhea,” Remus inserted helpfully, “But close.”  
Sirius glanced between the twins, cocked his head and blurted, “Twins!”  
The boys on the other bench scrunched their eyebrows at us. I only nodded back at him.  
“Merlin, why didn’t you tell us, that is so incredibly cool” James fawned, “ohhh I get it now, why dating would be weird and you knew each other for so long.”  
“Yep, we could have said something though.” Remus replied, getting more interested in the conversation.  
Remus glanced over at Sirius and gave him a look.  
“You have a Slytherin tie.”  
Sirius looked down at his outfit at Remus’ words, he seemed slightly surprised to see that own his own body. He slowly undid the knot, stood up and opened the window, he hurtled the ball of fabric out the window, then promptly shut it and sat down.  
“Not anymore Remu.” he smiled as he said it.  
“It’s Remus.”  
“I know.”  
“So who are the girls?” I asked, mildly curious at his complete brush off of the subject.  
“She speaks!” Sirius exclaimed, “And to judge no less.”  
“Not judging, simply asking a question.” I said, slightly indignantly.  
“Judgily asking a question.”  
“Just answer that damn question.”  
“Okay, the girls were my cousins, and I’m not sure if you guys know this, but the Blacks are very famously Slytherin. I decided to not sit with my family and I may have mentioned that I did not want to actually be a Slytherin, hence the yelling and chasing. ”  
“Why don’t you want to be a Slytherin?” Remus asked.  
Every other boy in the cart opened their mouth and glanced at each other. I was very curious about the exact wrongness with Slytherin.  
“You don’t know!?” James asked shocked, “They are evil, straight up despicable. My dad said they were horrible when he went to Hogwarts.”  
“Yeah, my family could definitely be considered evil,” Sirius said with a grimace.  
I was pretty sure these boys were being dramatic but now dread was growing in my stomach, if I happened to be sorted into Slytherin all of these boys would probably hate me. Remus might even hate me if I did. This conversation was just putting me into a downward spiral, thinking about all the horrible things that could happen, most of them included Remus hating me.  
“I’m going to the bathroom,” I interrupted something James was saying about how great Gryffindor was.  
A chorus of “okays” followed and I walked out the door. There were many people in each and every cart, laughs followed me as the bathroom neared. There were two people who were seemingly arguing about something. One of them was a ginger girl with long hair and a slim face, the other was a tall boy with long black hair that fell like a curtain around his face. He kinda looked like he hadn’t washed his hair for a while.  
Either way the pair was blocking the bathroom. I stared at the two until they finally noticed me. For a moment I thought the charmed anklet I wore was not working, because the ginger was staring at the split on my forehead that held a thick white scar. They moved with apologies and I locked the door behind me, fast.  
In the mirror I saw nothing, my face was smooth and the charm was still working. I was good. The charm only took away the appearance, if you were to touch my skin you would be able to feel the ridges, yet the only people who ever touched me were mom and Remus.  
I walked out of the bathroom only to find the girl and boy still there, the boy was looking more and more agitated, he was saying something about how she was being ridiculous. He raised his hand and grabbed down on her upper arm and pulled her back to a cart of other boys. I stepped up to him and stopped his approach.  
The boy looked down at me and tried to move past, I simply grabbed his hand off of the other girl's arm and pushed her behind me. The boy looked incredulously at the ginger behind me before shaking his head and ducking into his cart.  
“Are you okay?” I asked.  
“Yeah, thank you, the guys in there were making me uncomfortable and Severus didn’t want to leave,” She replied sounding agitated, “I’m Lily.”  
I assumed the black haired boy was Severus.  
“Rhea,” I said back, “you can come back with me to my cart. If you want.”  
Lily smiled and nodded, we walked in relative silence until we saw the boys sitting in the cart. I opened the door with Lily on my heels. Once I sat down I patted the spear next to me on the bench with Remus.  
“This is Lily, she is going to ride with us.” I told the group. I knew I should have asked but I wanted Lily to know that it wasn't really a question.  
Everyone nodded except James who was staring at Lily with his mouth wide open, he looked starstruck.  
“Hi, thanks for letting me sit here,” Lily said with a grin towards James, one that probably would make his head explode.  
The conversation continued from there, it mostly consisted of James and Sirius talking/bragging about all they knew about Hogwarts. Remus was probably just as knowledgeable about the history and many random facts, but he kept quiet.  
When the train finally arrived the group rowed boats, boats, nobody else seemed to find this particular fact odd. And then the entire group of first years were in the hall. The hall was certainly grand, there were huge tables filled with students, every table seemed to be a different colour. Red, Yellow, Green and Blue, from context clues I deduced that these were the houses, green was definitely Slytherin.  
The boys were stuck close in a group as Lily and I walked close behind. I was fairly certain I knew what was going to happen next because of the very loud whispers making their way across the hall. We were getting sorted into houses by that talking hat on the dias, nobody else thought that was odd? Names started getting called starting with A last names, which were followed by B, that meant Sirius Black.  
The air shifted when his name was announced, tension seemed to be pouring from the Slytherin tables, every other house seemed to be bored. Like they knew where any Black was going. The person who looked the least certain in the room was Sirius, if you were paying attention you could see the tremble in his hands as he sat.  
The hat sat on his head for a while, mumbling something about surprises and a new becoming, before he finally announced it, every person grew silent at the announcement. Gryffindor. Outrage from the other Blacks at Slytherin came directly after the word. Sirius gazed at the group, James clapped first and then Peter and finally Remus and the girls, quickly followed by the entire Gryffindor table.  
Sirius stumbled to the table and was welcomed by the older kids. Some of the professors even looked shocked at Sirius. Everyone in the group was distracted and before they knew it Lily Evans was next, she was promptly sorted into Gryffindor, Sirius seemed to lighten as she walked towards him. A familiar face. The next last name in the group was P so I let myself sink deeper into my anxiety until I could barely keep my whole body from shaking. Remus suddenly reached over and grasped my hand, I glanced down at it and inhaled a deep breath.  
K names were called next, that meant next was L, L meant Lupin, Remus would be first probably. I couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not, honestly at this point I would do anything to not have to go sit in that chair.  
“Remus Lupin”  
I stopped breathing, he let go of my hand and smiled at me before walking away, leaving me alone. James and Potter moved closer to me, and they both gave me warm smiles, probably sensing how horrible I felt. Remus sat down, it took three seconds, only three seconds, but they felt like three hours, days, years. I stared at the mouth of the hat.  
“Gryffindor!”  
Remus smiled and his joy filled my heart, I felt my mouth stretch into a grin right back at him. Sirius was clapping the loudest and moved so he could sit next to him. But the next name wasn’t Rhea, or the one after that, James and Peter were looking at me worriedly and I could feel Remus’ stare. I just looked at the chair, not getting sorted at all may be worse than getting sorted somewhere without my brother. The names flew by until P.  
Peter Pettigrew was next, and he, surprisingly, was sorted into Gryffindor and unsurprisingly James Potter was as well. My name was still not called. The final person was sorted and everybody in the room was looking at me.  
“Are you, Rhea Lupin?” asked the man with a white beard, Dumbledore I think.  
“Yes,” I answered, my hands were shaking and I hoped no one could see.  
“Oh, I thought that was a mistake, two Lupin’s, come on up.”  
I walked now forwards and my only thought was, how idiotic do you have to be to think someone’s name is a mistake and not say?  
I sat down anyways. I wasn’t thinking about which house at the moment, I was thinking that the headmaster was an idiot and the voice surprised me as it said Gryffindor. I was sure I was imagining it, because that doesn’t happen, in a group of six how did every single one get sorted into Gryffindor.  
I sat up anyways. My feet carried me to the table, the claps were echoes in my head, Remus was smiling at me. I sat across from him, next to Lily and two girls named Mary, and Marlene. Holy shit, this was definitely not supposed to work like this. Things were not supposed to work this well. The meal came right in front of me, beautiful and filling. But as I brought the fork to my mouth, my stomach turned and it seemed like the grossest thing I’d ever seen.  
Lily wasn’t participating, she seemed to be glancing over at the Slytherin table, more specifically she was looking at the Snape guy from earlier. Lily’s face dropped when he didn't look back, she stabbed her fork into the meat with a bang, multiple people looked over at her, but she was just destroying her meal.  
When I looked at Remus he was looking back at me. He spelt out l-o-n-g d-a-r-k h-a-i-r? In sign. We figured out the entire alphabet in BSL a year ago and it now was part of their daily life. I nodded my head, I'm sure there was a sign for yes but I didn’t know it.  
I-s s-h-e o-k-a-y? He spelt.  
Y-e-a-h I t-h-i-n-k s-o. I replied.  
People were looking at us and I’m sure many people now thought one of us was deaf but who cares. When the meal was done these head people explained things about dorms and stairs. I got the passcode to the common rooms, I tried desperately to stay close to Remus and Lily. They finally let us go to our rooms, I wasn’t sure when I would get to see Remus again, so I waited until the big rush of people headed up the staircase. Just as Remus started to move away I grabbed onto his wrist and yanked him back down, probably too hard but, oh well.  
My throat was caught, so I simply pulled him into a tight hug before turning around and rushing up the stairs. When I walked in there was Lily, Marlene and Mary and another named Hailey, each with their own stuff and beds, the beds looked soft and really cool. I hoped Remus got to be with James, Sirius or Peter at least.  
My stuff was already in the room, it was a fairly small box with a good latch, there were some clothes but the most important were the uniforms, though I had never worn a skirt before, that certainly would be different. Skirts had a much more likely chance for people to feel the scars.  
Lily was very slowly wearing a hole in the carpet. She walked back and forth while simultaneously folding clothes.  
“Are you worried about something?” I said from my spot on my bed.  
“Yes, no, maybe, Severus was sorted into Slytherin, he’s not a bad person he’s my best friend. I think he’ll be weird about it and probably we’ll grow apart, which is not at all what I want, he was the one who taught me about Magic you know?” Lily said talking at a speed that shouldn’t really be possible.  
“Don’t worry until you talk to him,” I replied with a sigh and laid down on the bed.  
“We should probably go to sleep at some point, it’s getting late and I want to explore tomorrow.” Marlene said from across the room.  
Everyone agreed and the lights went out. The air had a slight chill but that was completely fine with the thick covers the beds have. I didn’t really want to sleep, today there wasn't much room for my thoughts, just fear and activity.  
So I let my mind have thoughts, imagining what my life could be or what I would do tomorrow, anything really. It had been an hour and a half, and I was finally ready to sleep. After another half an hour of looking at a curtain and feeling absolutely nothing other than bored.  
Great, this was really awesome, I wanted Remus but that wasn’t a possibility now. Now I had to be more independent, I’ve never needed my mom, I just needed Remus. He was still in the building, yet he felt a million miles away. I let myself think of every possible bad thing that could happen until my mind just couldn’t anymore. I drifted off sometime after 2 am.

Remus John Lupin  
Year 1  
Age 11  
Thursday, September 1, 1971

The others were still sleeping when I woke up, boy was I glad I got a room with the same group, having to talk to this many people was draining, I don’t even want to think about having to make new friends. Everything in this room was red, everything since I’d been sorted into Gryffindor was red, I got the whole house pride thing but wasn’t this a little much.  
The duvets are red and the curtains around the beds are red and the actual curtains are red and the freaking rugs were red. I was even supposed to wear a red tie. The blanket covering me was wrapped around my legs, I tried to kick them off, but they simply got more tightly wrapped. In my struggle I fell slightly to the side and off the bed. The thump was loud and I fell directly on my shoulder.  
I carefully unwrapped myself on the floor and quickly stood up, looking around at the other beds, all the curtains were undisturbed and I heard no movements, good. I very quickly got dressed, it was a risk of someone suddenly waking up and seeing me naked. Or someone could see my anklet, a guy wearing an anklet at 11 could be hard to explain, they’d probably think I was a queer or something. Alas, nobody awoke.  
The Gryffindor common room, to nobody’s surprise, was also very red. There was also a body on the couch, laying down looking at the ceiling. She was staring at the ceiling through a blanket of messed up hair, she also happened to be wearing very familiar pajamas. This Idiot girl was my sister.  
“What are you doing?” I said to her without a greeting.  
She jumped a bit at my voice and then took a deep breath when she looked at my face.  
“I am contemplating the complexities of life. Thank you very much,” she said as she turned her face to the ceiling again.  
“You should probably change, then we have to go meet that professor from earlier,”  
“What professor? How do you know this?”  
“She told me after dinner that we should meet her to sort out our,” I reached my hands up and air quoted, “problem.”  
“Oh, you should have told me,”  
“I would have but you ran off last night.”  
“Still, you should have told me,”  
“Too late now just go change, I’ll wait for you here,”  
She took off without a word up the stairs to her dormitory. So I went to sit on the very red and big comfy chair in the corner. The ceiling was actually very interesting, thick, heavy curtains around the top of the windows. A peak in the roof had a very small black circle. There were probably many bugs up there, spiders most likely.  
Rhea rushed down the stairs with fully brushed hair and the uniform, It looked weird on her for some reason, not actually physically weird but like she shouldn’t be wearing it because we shouldn’t be here. I had refrained from looking in the mirror just for that reason, that would make it real, I would actually be a student in Hogwarts, seeing Rhea in it apparently had the same effect.  
“Let’s go then, I don’t want to miss breakfast.” I said.  
We got just out of the common room when I realized that neither of us knew where to go. That may be a problem. Rhea simply kept walking. When I asked why, she simply said “We’ll either find her on someone who can tell us where she is.”  
Sound logic.  
Sure enough she was right, we found McGonagall in two minutes.  
“Great timing! I was just looking for you two.” she said with a tinge of warmth.  
Then she led us to her office, and detailed exactly how to remember to get there, and that we would be meeting there a lot. The door to her office was wood and carved beautifully. Inside it felt warm, even though it was dark, with cold stone walls and a slight dampness to it. It felt good.  
“Okay well you two can take your seats,” she pointed to the two seats across her desks as she sat down, “we know that there may be fear about other students or professors finding out. We want to assure you that no students will be informed about you and professors will be told on a strict need to know basis.”  
“Thank you for our privacy but I’m more concerned about where we will be, you know, to change.” Rhea said with a hint of awkwardness about the subject.  
“Yes, well, we can show you where you can go on the night of, it is removed from the premises.” McGonagall stated.  
“Who’s we?” I asked.  
“Pardon?” McGonagall said, confused.  
“You said we, who is included in the “we”?”  
“Of course, the only people on the grounds that know are myself, Dumbledore and the nurse, Madam Pomfrey, we will all be there to escort you there.”  
“Okay then, we will see you Sunday at?” I asked, I was hoping it would be at least 4 p.m..  
“7 in my office,” McGonagall said, like she hadn’t just shortened our normal time by 4 hours.  
Rhea glanced at me with her eyes widened slightly.  
“When are we going to be picked up in the morning?” Rhea asked with slight disbelief in her tone.  
“6:40,” McGonagall looked into between us, “Is sunset not 8 and sunrise 6:20?”  
“No professor you are right, it's just…”  
“Different from home.” Rhea finished for me  
“Yeah, different, but great.”  
We left the office with mouths slightly dropped and the entire walk back to the tower was silent. We walked to our dormitories without a word.  
When I walked into the room, it was bright and only one of the curtains was closed, Peter’s. James was dressed and practically bouncing, while Sirius was dressed, his hair was wild and his eyes were barely open.  
“Hi!” James exclaimed as I walked in, “Where were you?”  
“Just talking to McGonagall, family stuff.” I lied quickly.  
“Oh, well we were just going to head down for breakfast, want to join us?”  
“Sure,” I glanced at Peter’s closed curtains, “should we wake him?”  
“He’ll be fine, he would just yell at anyone who woke him up anyways. Okay Sirius lets go.”  
“No, it’s too early,” Sirius whined while attempting to contain his hair.  
James walked over to him and grabbed his wrist, he didn’t let go until they were out the door and there was less of a risk for Sirius to go back to bed. I didn’t even have to participate in the conversation, James was basically the only one talking. He looked happy to do it though.  
They walked into the great hall again, this time it was less packed (it was fairly early) and I was less nervous. It was a full english breakfast, there was toast that was buttered, but I decided there wasn’t nearly enough especially when there was no jam or peanut butter. I Realized as I went for my fourth swipe of butter that both boys were looking at me.  
“You’re drowning your poor toast mate,” James said with a pout at my toast  
“Huh, well I just like it this way I guess.”  
“No judgment, to each their own.”  
Five girls walked into the hall, each of whom looked like they were done with the day. Rhea looked like that most mornings that involved people. Lily, Mary and Marlene were there with her and so was another girl who I didn't know. Rhea and Lily spotted us and headed over.  
“Merlin she's beautiful isn't she?” James asked wistfully.  
“Who?” I respond with panic slowly rising in my throat.  
“Lily, her hair, her freckles, her smile, everything.” James sighed, dramatically.  
Good, not Rhea, I don’t know what I’d do if someone had a crush on her.  
“I think she’s got eyes for someone else, sorry James,” Sirius commented finally getting into the conversation.  
“Who!? She’s been here for less than 24 hours!”  
“You’ve been here for less than 24 hours, but It’s one of the Slytherins, I think.”  
“I’m pretty sure it's the one with really greasy black hair, like yours if you didn’t wash it,” I pointed towards Sirius, “They kept staring at each other at dinner last night.”  
“And they fell madly in love with one glance?” James asked, slowly becoming more irritable.  
“Who fell in love?” Lily walked up and sat next to James, across from Sirius and I, Rhea and the new girl sat on that side as well. Mary and Marlene sat next to Me.  
“Nobody, who are you?” Sirius lied with ease.  
“Hailey,” the new girl replied. Her hair was short and platinum blonde.  
“She's our fifth roommate,” Marlene added, her smile was warm and directed towards Hailey.  
“You guys are all roommates too?” James asked.  
“Yep, you guys?”  
“Yeah, plus Peter.”  
As if on cue Peter came into the hall almost at a run. He spotted us and went to sit down on the other side of James.  
“Slow down, we have plenty of time mate.” James chuckled.  
“Yes, but I can’t waste the opportunity for all this food.” Peter said as if the food would run out in a magical school.  
Everyone burst out laughing, while Peter sat there glancing at everyone in the group.  
“What?”

_____

We had flying lessons first, which was the worst possible start of the day I could think of. We were also with the Slytherin first years, they added an extra nuisance of bickering. Heights by themselves were terrifying, but flying around in the sky in a glorified stick was some sort of torture. Only idiots would gladly participate in something so close to death, of course James and Sirius were both elated.  
The professor was explaining the steps to fly and asked everyone to step on the left side of their brooms and raise their right and, we then were informed to say the word up “with feeling”. Of course James, Sirius and even Rhea had their brooms in their hand immediately. Mine shakily rose to my hand within 30 second. Peter was straining his eyebrows at the broom on the ground at his feet.  
The professor then went on to explain how to stay on a broom, it sounded ridiculous, there should have been an easier way to do this by now. Though she was thorough and she explained what to do very well. Peter was still looking at his broom on the ground.  
We were then told to simply lift our feet off the ground and fly. Not only was I not a bit prepared for this, every other student seemed to look at least somewhat confused.  
“Best way to learn is through experience!” the professor yelled.  
James and Sirius were off, Rhea and Mary following close behind. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, my legs and feet slowly were relieved of the natural pressure of gravity. I couldn’t pry my eyes open, even as I could feel myself rising quicker.  
“Look at you Remus, you can open your eyes now though.” Sirius said from much closer than I expected.  
My eyes burst open, and I immediately looked at the distance between me and the ground. Bullocks, that was too high. I bucked my hips downward, attempting to lower myself but I was too fast and I started hurling towards the ground. Halfway to the ground I realized what to do and I pulled up to even out, but I was too jerky again. The sudden stop threw my neck back and gave me whiplash, hard.  
I had to get off this idiotic branch as soon as possible. Sirius looked mocking as he gracefully slid down next to me, and stopped (with absolute control might I add). I looked behind him as two green-robed riders raced towards us. One was in front of the other, the back one looked like the greasy haired guy from earlier. I started to warn Sirius but they were too close now.  
Just as I thought a horrible crash was about to occur, the first rider banked, fast and hard, the second rider attempted the same move, but as the both of us were about to realize, he was too late.  
I felt the impact before the pain and my vision went dark yet my eyes were wide open, my stomach rose to my chest as I flailed to the ground. Limbs banged against each other, the other boy was falling too but he was above me. No air was coming into my lungs and I felt more than saw the ground approaching. I let my consciousness slip as I knew the ground was coming, I just hoped I didn’t die.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm Canadian so I will be spelling colour like colour, the u shall live on in my work.


End file.
